Post by Gale Coleman on Jun 18, 2017 8:44:40 GMT -8
What is executive functioning and toxic stress?
Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity, like physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness, exposure to violence, and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt and interfere with the development of brain and other organ systems, and increase the risk for stress related disease and cognitive impairment, even into the adulthood
And when toxic stress response occurs continually, or by multiple sources, it can have multiple effects on a child’s (or adult’s) physical and mental health for life. The worse the experiences in childhood, more likely the possibility of developmental delays and later health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, substance abuse, and depression. But with supportive, responsive relationships with caring adults as early in life as possible can prevent or reverse the damaging effects of toxic stress response.
Executive functions consist of several mental skills that help the brain organize and act on information, these skills enable people to plan, organize, remember things, prioritize, pay attention and get started on tasks. They also help people use information and experiences from the past to solve current problems. When children have issues with executive functioning, any task that requires planning, organization, memory, time management and flexible thinking becomes a challenge. The more you know about the challenges, the better you’ll be able to help the child build their executive skills and manage difficulties.